Beyond Words - How Language Reveals the Way We Live Now
by John Humphrys
Hodder, HK$115
BBC broadcaster John Humphrys readily takes to task those who undermine English as a comprehensible medium of communication. He covered the use and abuse of English in his last book, Lost for Words. In Beyond Words, he tackles how meaningless jargon has come to clutter contemporary English. The Scotsman, which might be deemed to be neutral on the subject of English, says: 'The book is by turns angry, funny, self-deprecating, smug, patronising and charming.' The English are, apparently, obsessed with celebrity and shopping, with 'lifestyles' and 'makeovers' and 'work-life balance', which Humphrys says 'is just daft'. On a serious note, what does it say about a society when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice can say 'the invasion of Iran is not on the menu at this time'. And when three inmates at Guantanamo Bay commit suicide, it's described as 'an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us'. Humphrys is alarmed at the role linguistic convolution plays in obscuring clear statements. The so-called War on Terror is now called the Long War. 'Sometimes the simplest language is the most chilling,' he says.
